Our hearts absolutely break to announce the sudden, unexpected, and untimely death of our beloved mother Barbara. Barbara passed away peacefully in her home on December 26, 2020 after spending the holidays with her family. As a mother and friend, she was the very definition of unconditional love. After being born and raised in Chicago, she had very recently relocated to California to be close to family. She leaves behind son Geoffrey and his wife Ellen, daughter Jessica and her fiance Jacquis, and son Kevin. She also leaves behind many, many dear friends.

Barbara was born in Chicago and raised by her late parents Odvar and Gabriella, along with her late siblings Bob (older brother) and Lisa (younger sister). As an undergraduate she attended Northeastern University and majored in English, which was the beginning of a passion that would continue to grow throughout her life. She took up nursing after earning her LPN, but later in life returned to school and earned her Master’s degree in English from Northeastern in 2017. She married Lawrence Weiner in 1982 and together they gave birth to and raised Geoffrey, Jessica, and Kevin. She was the best mother we could have ever asked for. She loved us, took care of us, sacrificed for us, and gave us every opportunity to succeed.

Barbara was never afraid to follow her passions into new jobs or new careers. Although she started her education in English and ended her career working in a library, her path between was anything but straight and narrow. She worked in a variety of settings as a nurse, cared deeply about her patients, and formed long and lasting relationships with their families. After a number of years of nursing, she decided to pursue some of her other interests. Within our family we had always appreciated her masterful cooking skills, so no one was surprised when she started working in food preparation. She had a gift for patience and connecting with people, which she parlayed into roles as a tutor and teacher. And more recently, while completing her Master’s in English, she began to inhabit that realm of life that truly brought her inner joy - reading - as a Reader’s Advisor at the library. She loved the friends she made along the way and she loved the work, the book discussions, the conversations.

We will remember her for her primary passion, which was being an amazing mother, but outside of that she had many other interests. She read voraciously, even outside of her library work, and it wouldn’t be uncommon for her to have six books going at one time. She cooked incredible food, both for her family and for fun. She kept up with many different shows and movies (but just try getting her to watch The Exorcist), and enjoyed sharing the experience of watching these visual stories with us. She listened to a huge variety of music, went to concerts, and knew everything going up on Broadway. Finally, we’d be remiss to not mention her two other great loves - New York and coffee.

Mom, no one was more fun to travel with, hang with, or share a cup of coffee with. You are loved and will be dearly missed.